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Microsoft VP of Next Generation Jason Ronald revealed some alarming new plans for their next Xbox.
Xbox’s Work With AMD
Two months ago, AMD and Xbox both announced they were working closely to make new gaming hardware. AMD revealed that this goes beyond Xbox consoles. These new dedicated gaming chips will also be coming to PCs and the cloud.
Ronald talked about this partnership in the latest Official Xbox Podcast:
But this is really all grounded in the work we’re doing to create a unified platform that allows players to play across devices and in entirely new ways.
And it’s really about ensuring that gameplay is not locked to an individual device or an individual storefront.
It’s really just the recognition of, if we built our libraries across a whole set of different services, we want to put that entire library front and center no matter where you choose to play.
Next Generation Xbox Will Also Be About AI
Aside from their AMD partnership, Microsoft is investing in rendering technology such as neural technology.
Ronald then brings AI model technology into this conversation. In his words:
We’re also investing in dedicated silicon to enable the next generation of AI capabilities.
That will be transformative in how you actually experience your gameplay, and also provides a new surface that developers can actually take advantage of and deliver new kinds of experiences that they’ve never been able to deliver before.
Ronald then explained that they’re doing their preliminary research on AI for Xbox with the Xbox Ally X. This partner gaming device with ASUS has a dedicated NPU.
What Does This Mean For Xbox?
It’s clear that Microsoft and AMD are adding an NPU in that upcoming 10th generation Xbox. And they have partnered to find new applications for that technology in video games. It’s no coincidence that the Xbox Ally X is also using an AMD CPU.
But don’t think this means Microsoft is the only gaming company interested in AI. Sony, Valve, and Nintendo will also study how they can use NPUs and AI models in their future hardware too.
Whether we like it or not, AI model tech is successfully taking over technology, and that includes consumer technology too. Apple thought they could enter the field at their own pace – today they’re leasing AI services from their competitors because they’re not able to deliver. The prestigious tech company is paying for these mistakes, in a material way.
There are already early rumors that the 10th generation Xbox will be more powerful than its PlayStation counterpart. We can’t corroborate if this rumor is true or credible.
But if it is true, Sarah Bond’s boast that it will be the “biggest technological leap in a generation” will prove to be true. It truly boggles the mind that Microsoft already knew this that early, because they were already planning all of this in the background.
